Data Vault

Xand leverages the benefits of a utility-based architecture with the best practices and processes that come from backing up hundreds of servers every night. Our Data Vault Services provide daily incremental backups of your vital data from all servers managed in Xand’s data center. This service includes restoration of data to servers using these backups. Data Vault Service also provides standard on-site and optional off-site vaulting of backup tapes, which means you get a cost-effective and reliable data archiving service that can be tailored to meet your unique needs.

The Backup Process
Xand’s Westchester data center has a centralized backup infrastructure. A Tivoli Storage Manager agent is installed onto every server managed by Xand, and a network of servers manages the process of scheduling and executing the daily incremental backups. The backup data is sent to a tape robot, which serves two purposes: the actual storage of data onto magnetic tapes, and the onsite archiving of these tapes until they are reused. This highly automated process is overseen by Xand personnel dedicated to this purpose.

We approach the backup process with the end in mind, namely the prospect of using the backup tape to do a restoration. In most cases a restore is used to recover a single file or directory, but there are times when an entire system has to be restored. In both of these cases, the data included in our normal backup is sufficient.

The point of backing up data is to be able to restore it should there be a logical corruption or a hardware failure -- that could require anything from replacement of a single file to rebuilding an entire server. Our goal is to begin data restoration within 60 minutes of your request, provided the backup tape is archived onsite at the Xand data center. If the tape must be retrieved from our offsite vaulting partner, then our 60 minute commitment doesn't begin until we receive the tape. It can take from 2-4 hours to receive a tape from offsite vaulting.

Variable Backups: Standard and Custom
The concept of variable backups is based on the observation that retention requirements for different categories of files on customer servers can vary on a case-by-case basis.

In working with our customers over the past several years, we discovered some only want the most relevant data to be backed up on a weekly basis - transactions and content - and prefer to exclude data associated with the operating system or, in some cases, the applications themselves, such as database servers. Essentially, customers prefer to differentiate data that can be efficiently restored from a CD or another server from data that represents actual transactions and content. Xand Account Managers will work with you to identify those files and directories you may want included in each backup.

Licensing, Installation, Configuration and Testing
Xand is responsible for the entire backup infrastructure. You only pay for the backups we perform without regard to capital costs associated with tape robots, media servers, software licenses or personnel costs. We install, license, and test the backup software during system set-up to ensure you are provided a fully functional environment capable of meeting your requirements.

Offsite Vaulting
Offsite tape storage and media storage serves two purposes for your organization. Firstly, disaster recovery, when a company is in the throes of a major technical or environmental disaster, they have to be sure that any data that has been recently produced can be reproduced easily.   This is general achieved by requesting from offsite tape storage and media backup’s that can be restored to ensure that the organization can be up and running as soon as possible. Disasters of hits nature are thankfully few and far between, but the necessity for this stored media and offsite backup tapes to be readily available has to be a priority in these unlikely events.

Secondly, storage of backup media and computer backups are a necessity in situations where corporate liability and culpability are concerned. As backups that are stored off site are a time and date point of where information was created, exchanged or even deleted, the backup tapes stored off site with Xand’s vaulting partner become even more important if something is deleted either by accident or design. These tapes are removed from storage and returned to our data center or sent to our clients where they can retrieve important databases, e-mail or other documentation.